It is often desirable to secure a dispenser, such as a pump, a valve, or other dispensing means to a container for storing a liquid product. A typical container may be made of glass and have a neck with an opening for dispensing the product. A flange having an inwardly directed ledge is often provided to facilitate attachment of a cap or dispensing device to the container.
Various methods are known for securing a dispenser onto a flanged container. One such method is to provide the dispenser with a metal mounting ferrule. To attach the dispenser to the container, the bottom of the skirt of the mounting ferrule is deformed, or crimped, beneath the container flange to retain the dispenser in place. Such a crimping operation, however, requires specialized machinery made specifically for the crimping operation. Moreover, since each dispenser must be positioned accurately, and then crimped, the process of crimping the mounting ferrules is relatively time consuming. Furthermore, set-up of the crimping process requires precise adjustment of the crimping head in order to fully crimp the mounting ferrule onto the container. If the flange of the container varies even slightly from the dimensions defined during set-up, the crimping process may easily fail. If the flange is too small, a tight crimp may not occur, which can result in leakage. If the flange is too large or if the height of the bottle varies from what is expected, the forces necessary for crimping may crush the flange, thereby causing the container to break. Such breaking of the container requires the assembly line to be stopped so the broken container can be removed and the assembly line machinery cleaned, and results in loss of the package, including the fragrance, which is often particularly costly.
Another method for securing a dispenser onto a flanged container, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,562,219 and 5,799,810 to de Pous et al., utilizes a hard plastic collar having an annular recess which receives the flange. An annular retaining rib snap-locks under the flange when installed. Such designs, however, typically require the use of hard plastics, which are not effective for providing a liquid seal and therefore require a gasket. As such, leakage problems often result. Moreover, as is the case with crimping, variances in flange dimensions can easily cause failure. If the flange is too small, the retaining rib snap locks may not pull the collar into sealing engagement with the container, which can result in leakage. If the flange is too large, the retaining rib snap-locks may not fit properly underneath the flange, which too can result in leakage and retention failure of the dispenser.
The disadvantages of the above discussed methods and assemblies are substantially obviated by the assembly and method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,553 to Van Brocklin and U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,942 to Van Brocklin et al., which are incorporated herein by reference. The assembly disclosed therein comprises a mounting cup having a generally cylindrical skirt around its periphery and a sealing collar. The sealing collar includes a sleeve having a diameter sized to receive the sidewall of the flange, and sized to be encased by the mounting cup. The end portion of the sleeve, which comprises a plurality of spaced tabs, is in the path of movement of the mounting cup and is deformed radially inwardly beneath the flange ledge thereby to secure the collar to the flange.
However, it is not always desirable to use the flange as the means for securing and sealing the dispenser to the container. Rather, there are times when it is desirable to use the opening in the neck as the mechanism for sealing and securing the dispenser to the container.
Various methods are known for securing a dispenser onto a container using the inner diameter of the container's opening rather than a flange. One such method is to provide a portion of the dispenser assembly with a slightly larger outer diameter than a corresponding inner diameter of a portion of the container opening, such that when the dispenser assembly is pressed into the container opening, a frictional fit is created which both secures and seals the dispenser assembly therein much like a cork in a wine bottle. Such a method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,010,039 to Bougamont. Another known method is to provide an outwardly extending radial protrusion around a portion of the dispenser assembly, which protrusion snaps into a corresponding radial channel provided in the inner diameter of the container opening. Such a method is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,324 to Peronnet et al.
While these methods disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,010,039 to Bougamont and U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,324 to Peronnet et al. may provide adequate sealing and securing functions, and may even provide an aesthetically pleasing package when used with containers not having flanged necks, they suffer from the disadvantage of not providing an aesthetically pleasing package when used with some bottles which do have flanged necks.
What is desired, therefore, is an assembly which secures and seals a dispenser, such as a pump or valve, to a container, which attaches and seals to the inner diameter of the opening of the container, which is adapted to be used with containers having flanged necks, which is aesthetically pleasing even when used with containers having flanged necks, and which incorporates a decorative collar to hide the flanged neck of the container.